The public is invited to join Mayor Jacques Roy and the City Council at 2 p.m. today, March 7, at the intersection of Second and Third streets for a ground-breaking ceremony celebrating the construction of the city's Regional Gateway Project.

The ceremony was originally scheduled for Thursday but was postponed because of rainy weather.

The Regional Gateway Project was developed through the city's SPARC Gateway and Wayfinding Initiative which includes park signage, way-finding signs and street sign improvements in the major corridors of the city.

Regional Gateway signage will include signs at La. Highway 28 (Coliseum Boulevard at Vandenburg Drive), at the convergence of La. Highway 1 (Third Street and Second Street), and at U.S. Highway 165 (Masonic Drive) and Horseshoe Drive.

The new Gateway structures at the Coliseum Boulevard and Third Street locations consist of internally lit metal obelisks with "Alexandria" in large metal floating letters. The lighting will shine through the holes in the metal skin giving them a glowing effect. The letters will also have lights on them. Both will also have a backdrop of magnolia trees with other assorted plantings around the perimeter.

The Masonic Drive structure will be constructed of brick and cast stone with "Alexandria" inscribed in stone that will match the obelisk already in place at Masonic Drive and Lee Street but will be slightly larger. There will be a raised planter with plantings as well as some additional landscaping around the perimeter of the planter at ground level.

The Gateway structures were designed by Jeffrey Carbo Landscape Architects of Alexandria and will be constructed by Petron LLC at a cost of $446,159. The structures are expected to be complete by June.